高跟鞋
High heels
Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil.
大家好，欢迎来到英语六分钟，我是尼尔。
And joining me it's Rob.
和我一起主持节目的是罗伯。
Hello.
大家好。
Today, we'll be discussing whether wearing high-heeled shoes is a fashion statement or a sign of oppression.
今天，我们将讨论穿高跟鞋是一种时尚宣言还是压迫的一种象征。
And by that I mean something you have to wear because someone has told you to.
我那么说的意思是你不得不穿戴某个东西，因为有人告诉你必须穿戴。
Now Neil, whatever style of shoe you choose to wear, it's good to polish them and keep them looking shiny and new.
尼尔，不管你选择穿什么款式的鞋，最好还是要擦亮它们，让它们看起来光彩照人，亮丽如新。
But one man from India called Vickrant Mahajan, set the Guinness World Record for polishing the most shoes.
但是来自印度，一名被叫维克兰特·马哈詹的男子创造了擦鞋次数最多的吉尼斯世界纪录。
Do you know how many pairs he polished in eight hours?
你知道他在八小时擦了几双鞋吗？
Was it… a) 151 pairs b) 251 pairs, or c) 351 pairs?
是a) 151双 b) 251双，还是c) 351双？
Well, if it was me, it would be no more than one pair.
好吧，如果是我的话，应该不会超过一双。
But as it's a world record, I'm going to go for 351 pairs.
但由于它是一项世界纪录，我会猜是351双。
Hopefully you'll give me the answer later!
还好稍后你会告诉我答案！
But let's focus now on high heels.
现在让我们将注意力集中到“高跟鞋”上。
Yes. It's a style of shoe worn by women around the world.
是的。它是全世界女性所穿的一种鞋。
But why do millions of people choose to walk on strange, stilt-like shoes?
但是为什么成千上万的人选择穿着奇怪的，像高跷一样的鞋子走路呢？
Studies have suggested wearing high heels can lead to damage to the muscles and skeleton.
研究表明，穿高跟鞋会导致肌肉和骨骼受损。
But despite this, they are worn to look professional in the workplace or for glamour – a word to describe the quality of looking fashionable and attractive.
尽管如此，人们为了让自己在工作场合看起来更专业或者更有魅力，还是会穿高跟鞋——这个词用来形容看起来时尚迷人的特性。
And of course, they are associated with female glamour,
当然，它们和女性魅力有关，
which is something Tim Edwards, Honorary Fellow in Sociology at the University of Leicester, has been talking about on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Thinking Allowed.
那是莱斯特大学社会学荣誉研究员蒂姆·爱德华兹在BBC广播4频道《Thinking Allowed》节目中谈到的。
Here he is describing why he thinks that is…
在这里他描述了为什么他认为那是……
Women's shoes in particular kind of have this kind of transformative or even magical quality - they can do something for a woman,
尤其是女鞋有这种变革性的或者甚至是神奇的特质——它们可以为女性做一些事情，
and it's quite difficult to kind of draw parallels quite like that with men in a sense of which it almost becomes something slightly otherworldly.
而且很难将其与男性相提并论，在某种意义上，它几乎变成了一种略显超凡脱俗的东西。
However one views it, as something which is a kind of act of subordination or an act of empowerment etc,
然而，有人认为，这是一种从属行为或赋权行为，
there is a sense in which your experience is changed -you are suddenly raised 3-4-5-6 inches higher, your balance is altered, your experience is transformed.
在某种意义上，你的经历发生了变化——你突然高了3，4，5，6英寸，你的平衡改变了，你的经历也改变了。
So, he describes high heels as having a magical quality.
所以，他形容高跟鞋描述有一种神奇的特性。
He uses the word transformative – meaning a great improvement or positive change – so they transform or improve how someone looks.
他使用了“transformative”这个词——意思是巨大的进步或积极的改变——因此高跟鞋改变或提升了一个人的外表。
Well, they do make you taller and that can make you feel more powerful or important.
它们确实能让你更高，而且那能让你觉得更有力量或更重要。
Tim even said it becomes otherworldly – an adjective to describe belonging to an imaginary world rather than the real world.
蒂姆甚至说，它变得超凡脱俗——一个形容词，用来描述属于想象的世界，而不是真实的世界。
Magical shoes do sound otherworldly, but Tim also mentioned that wearing high heels could be seen as an act of subordination.
神奇的鞋子确实听起来超凡脱俗，但蒂姆同样提到穿高跟鞋可以被看作是一种从属行为。
That's making someone do something to give them less authority or power.
那是让人们做一些事情来降低他们的权威或权力。
Well I guess that's only if you are forced to wear them.
我想那只是在你被迫穿上它们的情况下。
But there's another interesting point here – men don't have a style of footwear that can define them.
但还有一个有趣的地方——男人没有能定义他们的鞋类。
Yes, it's just sandals for you and sports trainers for me.
是的，你只穿凉鞋，我只穿运动鞋。
In fact Tim Edwards says it's difficult to draw parallels with men's shoes.
事实上，蒂姆·爱德华兹说，很难将高跟鞋与男鞋相提并论。
When you draw parallels between two distinct things, it means you highlight the similarities.
当你将两个截然不同的事物相提并论时，那意味着你强调了它们的相似之处。
But here he's saying it's difficult to find similarities.
但在这里他说很难找到相似之处。
Men have nothing special to wear on their feet.
男性脚上没有什么特别的东西可穿。
Of course there is nothing to stop men wearing high heels,
当然，没有什么能阻止男士穿高跟鞋，
although personally I don't think I'd be able to keep my balance,
尽管就我个人而言，我不觉得我能保持平衡，
but Tim Edwards suggests it would be viewed with suspicion.
但蒂姆•爱德华兹认为，人们会持怀疑态度。
Let's hear what he has to say…
让我们听听他要说什么……
I think the issue with men and footwear is that if you think of more contemporary culture,
我认为与男性和鞋类相关的问题是如果你更多考虑当代文化，
I mean the guy who kind of wears overly-flamboyant shoes or shoes which are not black, brown or flat is viewed with a degree of suspicion,
我的意思是穿着极度绚丽夺目的鞋子，或者穿的鞋子不是黑色、棕色或单一颜色的人会受到一定程度的质疑，
either in terms of his sexuality, or in terms of his work ethic - or in terms of his kind of general moral, well, you know, his moral standards in other kinds of ways.
要么是他的性取向，要么是他的职业道德，又或者他的整体道德方面，好吧，你知道，就是说他在其他方面的道德标准。
He says that if you don't wear a regular, ordinary black, brown or flat style of shoe, you might be viewed with suspicion.
他说，如果你不穿平常普遍的黑色、棕色或单一颜色的鞋子，人们或许会对你持怀疑态度。
Men who wear shoes that are flamboyant – that's brightly coloured and that attracts attention – have their sexuality or their attitude to work judged.
那些穿着绚丽夺目鞋子的男性——颜色亮丽、引人注目的鞋子——他们的性取向或工作态度都会受到评判。
He mentions someone's work ethic – that's the belief that working hard is morally right.
他提到了一个人的职业道德，也就是信仰努力工作在道德上是正确的。
A man who wears flamboyant shoes may have a different attitude to work.
一个穿着绚丽夺目鞋子的人可能对工作有不同的态度。
It sounds like quite an old-fashioned view.
这听起来是一个相当过时的观点。
It does, and let's hope people don't judge you when you go out wearing your sandals and socks!
是的，我们希望当你穿着凉鞋和袜子出门的时候，人们不会对你评头论足！
But now, how about giving us the answer to the question you set earlier.
现在，告诉我们你早些时候设置的问题的答案好吗？
Yes. I told you about Vickrant Mahajan, who set the Guinness World Record for polishing the most shoes.
是的。我跟你说了维克兰特·马哈詹，他创造了擦鞋次数最多的吉尼斯世界纪录。
I asked if you knew how many pairs he polished in eight hours.
我问你是否知道他在八小时内擦了多少双鞋。
And I guessed 351 pairs. Come on, was I right?
我猜是351双。来吧，我说得对吗?
I'm afraid not, Neil. The answer was 251 pairs.
恐怕不对，尼尔。答案是251双。
It's still quite a lot – that's 502 individual shoes and I'm not sure if he actually got paid for doing it.
那仍然相当多——那是502只鞋子，而且我不确定他是否由此真的得到了报酬。
Right, let's polish up some of our English vocabulary and remind ourselves of some of the words we've discussed today, starting with oppression.
好了，让我们复习一下英语词汇，回忆一下我们今天讨论过的单词，从“压迫”开始。
Oppression is when you are forced to do something by someone more powerful.
压迫是你被更有权势的人强迫去做某事。
We talked about glamour – a word to describe the quality of looking fashionable and attractive.
我们谈到了“绚丽夺目的”——被用来形容看起来时尚和有吸引力的一个单词。
Our next word was transformative – meaning a great improvement or positive change.
下一个词是“变革性的”，意思是巨大的进步或积极的改变。
Otherworldly is an adjective to describe belonging to an imaginary world rather than the real world – it's magical or special.
“超凡脱俗的”是一个形容词，用来描述属于一个想象的世界，而不是真实的世界——它是神奇的或者特别的。
We also discussed an act of subordination – that's making someone do something to give them less authority or power.
我们还讨论了“从属行为”，即让某人做一些事情来降低他们的权威或权力。
To draw parallels is an idiom meaning to highlight the similarities between two distinct things.
“相提并论”这个成语的意思是强调两个不同事物之间的相似之处。
And we mentioned flamboyant – that describes someone or something brightly coloured and that attracts attention.
我们提到了绚丽夺目的——形容某人或某事色彩艳丽，引人注意。
Finally, we talked about work ethic – that's the belief that working hard is morally right.
最后，我们谈到了“职业道德”，也就是信仰努力工作在道德上是正确的。
Something that both Neil and I have!
尼尔和我都有的品质！
And that brings to the end of the programme.
那就到了节目最后了。
Don't forget to visit our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
别忘了访问我们的网站bbclearningenglish.com。
Bye for now.
再见了。
Bye bye.
拜拜。